“Thank you for making such an awesome show. It’s really helped me out with this art project I’ve been working on.

I’m in an art show at the San Francisco Arts Commission and the theme is “Trace Elements”, or uh, Hidden Histories of San Francisco, so I’m making an illustrated map of San Francisco with bits of its hidden history. I probably wouldn’t be where I’m at with this thing if it wasn’t for your podcast.”

How cool is that?!

Very. I replied to this email from San Francisco artist Deth P. Sun immediately, demanding (okay, “enthusiastically requesting”) to see the work as soon as it was done.

A few weeks later, he emailed me a photo … and it’s awesome.

It’s a eccentric, surreal treasure map, a visual guide to San Francisco that’s packed with hidden cemeteries, lost neighborhoods, forgotten heroes … I mean, this is what the city is all about — stories, spooks and secrets:

Deth P. Sun, “Secret Histories of San Francisco” — click the map for a larger image

Deth P. Sun, “Secret Histories of San Francisco” — detail

Deth drew from a lot of great sources, of course, not just Sparkletack — sfcemeteries.com, outsidelands.com … in fact, he’s put together a Google map of stories and sources — a kind of legend to the map — that’s almost as cool as the painting.

I spent nearly an hour pouring over this a few months ago, and I can’t believe I didn’t leave a comment to let you know how much I appreciated it. Decided to make my presence known this time around rather than always being a lurker. Love this map, the idea of it, its execution, and your part in it. And love the site.

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"Thank you for bringing San Francisco alive for me. I recently arrived from Australia after months of 'study' with your podcasts, but alas, left my iPod on the plane! My dreams of wandering around with the sound of your voice to guide my exploration evaporated. Thankfully, I was able to remember quite a bit, and was able to impress a few locals to boot! I never thought that I'd find history, let alone American history, so interesting."